FROM THE DUGOUT
VINNY PERTH I’d like to start by thanking everyone for their efforts in making ‘Daragh’s Day’ a huge success on the opening night of the season against Derry City. There was a very special feeling around the ground and I know Daragh’s family appreciated everything that was done. I’ve seen first-hand what Daragh meant to them and I hope that what we did might be able to help the family’s healing process in some way. What it did show, particularly with the extra support from the Derry City fans, is that football is a great tool for so much in life. I hope people enjoyed the occasion and the money that was raised for local autism services was brilliant and will go towards a great cause. The support we had against Shelbourne at Tolka Park on Friday night was outstanding. We sold out our allocation yet again but the special thing for me was the way the supporters got behind the team. At times the players needed it. Considering the conditions, I thought some of the football we played in the first half was our best in a long, long time and the level of professionalism and play from us on that pitch was outstanding. Twonil up at half time, we were well and truly on the road but their goal gave them energy and the whole ground a lift but the 11 players on the pitch and the 800 supporters behind us came through it. It was a fully deserved three points. What I did notice about Tolka Park, and it’s the same with Tallaght Stadium and Dalymount Park, is the council’s input into the ground. As I wrote last week, we need to talk to our local politicians. There are votes to be won at football clubs and the sooner we all work together to make our community stronger then the better it will be for society and football. It’s been very noticeable over the last couple of weeks that being successful puts you right up there to be shot at. You can see
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that with the overreaction to Liverpool’s performance against Atletico Madrid during the week. This is a brilliant Liverpool team but all people wanted to do in the days that followed was look for the negatives in their display. Atletico’s Diego Simeone is a brilliant coach, of that there is no doubt, but teaching a team to play defensive football is the easiest part of football. The hardest part is setting a team up to break those defences down. We live in a world of negativity now. That’s been seen in many instances over the past couple of weeks. Before the season had even got underway, one local journalist wrote that people were staying away from Oriel Park because of the ground. I didn’t see that last week at the Derry game and the facts certainly don’t back that up because our season ticket sales continue to grow. Just look at the number of people behind us in Tolka on Friday night. What I see is people supporting our club and getting behind this team. We then had to listen to a so-called pundit saying that our team is ageing and that we are still in the shadow of other teams and other people. Once you see that stuff, it makes you realise that people are looking for headlines as opposed to facts. We have players like Daragh Leahy, who is 21, Will Patching, 21, Greg Sloggett, 23, Daniel Kelly, 22, Daniel Cleary, 23, Cammy Smith, 23, Stefan Colovic, 25 just to name a few. It should make you question what you listen to. We also had an agent, who is obviously disappointed with me and the club for not signing one of his players, taking the liberty of using the national newspaper that he writes for to do a two-page spread effectively criticising Dundalk and our budget! We live in a petty world. People say that Dundalk are great because of our
